'LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



hag. 



* UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



I ■ 

HH 

Sum 




PERSONAL IMMORTALITY 

AND 

OTHER PAPERS. 



PERSONAL 
IMMORTALITY 



AND 



Other Papers 



by 



JOSIE "OPPENHEIM. 



NEW YORK: 

CHARLES P. SOMERBY, 

ijg Eighth Street. 

1877. 



Copyrighted. 
i877. 



The Library 
ot Congress 



WASHINGTON 



C P. Somerby, 
Printer and Electrotyper 
J 9 Ei g Mk Street, Nr. York. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Prefatory Remarks 7 

Personal Immortality 19 

Letter No. I. From Lucius to Herman. 

Letter No. II. From Herman to Lucius. 

Letter No. III. From Lucius to Herman. 

Letter No. IV. From Herman to Lucius. 
Materialism. The Naked Doctrine- . . . .63 

Prayer 85 

Disadvantages of Debating with Religionists . 95 



PREFATORY REMARKS. 

By many Christians my little book will 
be looked upon as an intruder, a dispeller 
of long-cherished dreams, a disturber of the 
peace of the contented ; it will be classed 
among - the new - comers whose right to 
exist is not yet fully established. It will 
be asked, Is this not the offspring of 
malice, for what else could have given it 
birth ? 

All charges similar to the above bring 
their answer with them — they are born of 
intolerance, and one of the purposes of the 
following pages is to help overcome this evil. 

It is by assuming his rights that the 
Freethinker has gradually gained a recog- 
nition of them, in so far that now he can 
express himself freely without fear of the 
stake or dungeon. Still, the boasted liber- 



viii 



PREFATORY REMARKS. 



ality of the nineteenth century is in sore 
need of champions ; the day is yet far dis- 
tant when arguments against popular belief 
will be listened to with patience and con- 
sideration. 

You send after us the arrows of ac- 
cusation, you direct the eyes of prejudice 
against us, and how else shall we prevent 
society from ostracising us than by defend- 
ing ourselves ? 

You arbitrarily demand belief through 
faith, through fear of hell, but where, 
through reason, freedom has been attained, 
you can never force conviction. Suppose a 
friend should hand me a piece of chalk, 
telling me it is gold, I could not believe 
it so though the bottomless pit yawned at 
my feet. Many may see in this inability 
to always believe what is most pleasing, 
and in particular when applied to religion, 
submissive slavery, instead of freedom ; but 
the highest freedom to which man can 
arrive is a willingness to follow the dictates 
of reason, instead of being controlled by 
sensuous desires. 



PREFATORY REMARKS. IX 

I have often heard it questioned whether 
we have a right to deny what we cannot 
absolutely disprove : it is argued that because 
a thing cannot be proved, we have no 
right to conclude that it is not true. 

If we were to believe all that we can 
not absolutely disprove, there would be no 
end to credulity : we should have to accept 
all the wonders of India ; the miracles of 
all religions, no matter how contradictory ; 
any tale, however improbable, could be im- 
posed upon us. On the other hand, we 
should find our knowledge extremely limited 
did we reject all facts which we cannot 
directly prove. Fortunately, we are not left 
entirely without a guide : it is wise to 
proportion one's belief to the evidence ; to 
incline to that side which has the balance 
of testimony, which outweighs the other. 
In reading the life of Alexander the Great, 
we are not inclined to doubt either his 
existence, or his exploits as a general, 
because these are occurrences not contrary 
to experience. There is no balance of evi- 
dence sufficient to materially affect the testi- 



3S 



PREFATORY REMARKS. 



mony. However, we do not hesitate a mo- 
ment in rejecting the idea that (as the 
oracle declared) he was the son of the god 
Jupiter Ammon : this latter partakes of the 
miraculous ; it contradicts sense ; it is a 
violation of the laws of nature, and, as 
experience has firmly established these laws, 
the negative side has a very strong support, 
which nothing on the affirmative side could 
even equal, excepting that it were possible 
to have constant recourse to miracles. 
The same argument may be applied to the 
miraculous birth of Christ, and the so-called 
heathen gods. 

If an every-day occurrence is related 
to us, we believe it — we have no reason 
to do otherwise ; but if what is related to 
us partakes of the wonderful, such as the 
raising of the dead, the turning of water 
into wine, anything so improbable requires 
more than human evidence in order to 
receive credence. 

Unless religionists can make it evident 
in some tangible way that they have the 
force of reason, that their side overbalances 



PREFATORY REMARKS. 



xi 



all others, they have no right to attempt 
to impose their peculiar beliefs as binding 
on others. 

It is a common practice for the relig- 
ious to speak in unmeasured language of 
the materialist, as being prompted by a 
hatred of morality, as being devoid of all 
that is tender and noble : and can they then 
justly deny us the right of being heard ? 
We would show that our opinions have 
resulted from pure conviction and love of 
truth. There still remain to us the same 
delicate sensibility, the same divine aspira- 
tions, the same emotional nature. Our en- 
deavor is to strengthen morality : we cling 
to virtue, not to creeds, and all the more 
firmly as we believe that virtue alone can 
save us. It is necessary to the human race ; 
it is the ladder by which the race has 
ascended ; without it the dignity of man 
could never have been reached. People have 
had to take morality in all sorts of dis- 
guises in order to make it palatable ; surely 
it is time they should take it for its own 
sake. As Strauss says : " He likewise, who 



xii 



PREFATORY REMARKS. 



still needs expectation of a future recom- 
pense as a spring of action, stands in the 
outer court of morality, and let him take 
heed lest he fall. For supposing that, in 
the course of his life, this belief is over- 
thrown by doubt, what then becomes of 
his morality." 

How often, when anything has been said 
or written that would militate against the 
belief of the Christian, we hear the outcry 
that decency, decorum, and good manners 
forbid. To this we might answer that the 
like laudable qualities have not prevented 
him from defaming our character, and con- 
signing us to hell. But far be it from us 
to be actuated by a feeling of retaliation ; 
study of the laws of nature teaches us to 
pity more than to blame. However, justice 
demands a condemnation of that petty self- 
ishness which would have all other lights 
extinguished, so that the value of its own 
may be enhanced ; which is pained to see 
its own uncertain glimmerings lost in a 
more glorious burst of light ; which cares 
only for its own calm of mind, no matter 



PREFATORY REMARKS. 



xiii 



at what cost of happiness elsewhere. Those 
who are out of the Church, and others who, 
though still in it, feel that it no longer 
affords them a support, that it is crumbling 
under their feet, need sympathy and help ; 
it is not right to make them stand alone 
when there are so many kindred souls. 
What bitter grief it has caused, how many 
hearts have felt desolate, because people 
will forget the bond of sympathy that 
should unite the whole human family. 
Hopefully, yearningly, we look forward to 
the time when our cultus will be a uni- 
versal one, with its tenderness, its hopes, 
its love of freedom extended to all, and 
not to any particular sect, country, or class. 
When the rights of each one, whether of 
a physical, emotional, or intellectual nature, 
receive due consideration, then we can say, 
truly, the Messiah has come. 

I sincerely believe that the Church is 
a necessity to a great majority. I would 
not rudely disturb their faith in it, nor 
would I force my ideas upon them. I can 
appreciate their attachment to what is so 



xiv 



PREFATORY REMARKS. 



dear to them. No one of tender, earnest 
disposition can break away from the relig- 
ion of his fathers without a struggle. It 
is sad to contemplate the dying of a re- 
ligion on which so many hopes have 
rested. If it be asked to what purpose I 
then give publicity to ideas that tend to 
destroy the popular belief, I answer con- 
cisely as follows : 

I. Every system that disdains improve- 
ment must in time give way before the 
irresistible advance of human knowledge. 
It is impossible, it is futile, to endeavor 
to conceal the weakness of a religion when 
it has outlived its usefulness ; besides such 
an attempt would impede civilization. If 
we could discard a large share of our 
knowledge, and could stand intellectually 
where the Middle Ages stood, perhaps there 
would be less skepticism. But who does 
not think himself fortunate in being born 
in this age, instead of then ? 

II. Religions change and pass away, and 
all over Christendom this change is im- 
pending. Society should prepare for the 



PREFATORY REMARKS. 



XV 



coming crisis, and this can not be done 
unless departure from the faith be public 
and unconcealed. 

III. It is the duty of all advocates of 
liberal thought to exercise their rights ; if 
they do not, the cause of Freedom will 
suffer ; she will grow timid, and with her 
head bowed in the dust, the world will no 
longer acknowledge her. 

IV. The tendency of credulity toward 
gross superstition is so great, that the 
doubts of the skeptic should be held up to 
the light of day, in order to counteract 
this baneful influence on the human mind. 
Were this my only reason, it would be 
sufficient. 

V. It is by subjecting all beliefs, without 
preference, to the scrutiny of reason, that 
we may hope to arrive at a greater degree 
of tolerance, truth, and justice. By giving 
preference to any, either the Christian or 
other, we are not tolerant, we discard 
justice, and we injure one of our most 
glorious pursuits, namely, the search after 
truth. 



xvi PREFATORY REMARKS. 

I am well aware that it would have 
been better policy had I clothed my ideas 
in more popular language ; had I expressed 
myself more cautiously, vaguely retaining 
old words and giving them new meanings. 
The definition which many professed Deists 
give to the word God is such that any 
Atheist may believe in the definition. How 
often we hear such expressions as these : I 
believe in a something — an All in All, a 
Force, a Power, the Cosmos — call it what 
you will. There are many who will admire 
the wisdom of such language if uttered by 
any one called a Deist, but the same ideas 
in the mouth of a Materialist they would 
find detestable. 

I think no one can have reason to doubt 
my honesty. I have not purposely used 
words to disguise my thoughts ; neither have 
I desired that one should have to search a 
long time to discover my true meaning. 

Josie Oppenheim. 

Sparta, Wis., 1876. 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 

Letter No. I. 

From Lucius to Herman. 

THERE should be a nearness, a sympathy 
and love, between children of the same 
parents, but a long separation often makes 
them as strangers to one another. Would 
it not be well, dear brother, to engage in 
an epistolary correspondence, in which we 
share our thoughts with one another as 
freely as if we were together ? I should 
then know and understand my Herman : I 
should never misjudge him though I might 
not agree with him. 

Young as I am, I cannot help but feel 
convinced that the heart and reason undergo 
many changes ; this struck me very forcibly 
during your short stay with us. We have 
both undergone a marked intellectual de- 



20 PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 

velopment ; our reason has passed through 
many transitions, and I have no doubt that 
we have experienced many similar struggles, 
which have led us to very analogous con- 
clusions. We have not always passed through 
just the same mental conflicts, nor arrived 
at exactly the same conclusions : this would 
be impossible, as no two human beings are 
alike, neither do they think nor feel alike. 
On the contrary, I find that there is a 
vast difference between our thoughts and 
feelings, more especially in regard to re- 
ligious subjects ; I sometimes feel an intense 
longing to bridge over the difference, but 
not for the world would I land where you 
have landed ; rather would I persuade you 
to my still hopeful shore. Occasionally the 
fear comes over me that I am passing 
through such phases of intellectual devel- 
opment as will eventually lead me to where 
you are. No ; this can never be ; I shall never 
give up my hope of immortality ; this feel- 
ing is so strong within me, that at times 
I think I would prefer hell to annihilation. 
During the few weeks you spent with us 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



2 r 



I was surprised to learn what harsh, relig- 
ious ideas you entertain ; to speak plainly, 
you do not possess a spark of religion ; 
in your creed, if you have one. the word 
God is entirely left out ; you said yourself 
you should consider the use of it as a 
subterfuge on your part. But what is still 
more inconceivable, how can one so gentle, 
so affectionate, and, moreover, so ardent in 
his attachments, give up all hope of being 
reunited to the beloved dead. If one of 
your children should die, which God forbid, 
could you see it laid away in the grave, 
and feel that you had parted forever ? 
Forgive me, dear brother, if under my rude 
touch a tender chord trembles and vibrates 
sadness through your soul ; I have every 
reason to believe that your harsh religious 
views have not blunted your feelings, and 
I would not willingly pain one so affec- 
tionate. My object in making this personal 
application is, that you may fully realize 
and understand your position. 

Before proceeding further, I crave your 
kind indulgence while I endeavor to give 



2 2 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



you an insight into the present state of 
my feelings. Never have subjects pertain- 
ing to religion so engaged my attention- 
Formerly, I was settled in my belief ; I 
thought that the origin of man had been 
ascertained two thousand years ago ; I never 
doubted that his destiny was either heaven 
or hell ; I never stopped to consider whether, 
on these subjects, I possessed the truth 
or not ; and, never dreaming of my ignor- 
ance, I consequently was not troubled with 
any harassing doubts. But that is past ; 
my old theology has been sacrificed to reason. 
Never again can I return and roam over 
the happy fields of my childhood ; their 
beauty has fled ; the torch of reason leads 
onward, not backward ; alas, for me, if it 
give me nothing in return for what it has 
taken ! It has shown me the darkness of the 
past ; if it lead me not into the light, I 
am lost indeed. 

I have taken the great problems of life 
and death out of the hands of priests ; it is 
the study of nature and not of the Bible 
that will help us solve these mysteries. 



PERSONAL 1MM0R TA LITY. 



23 



All the Spring long I watched nature quicken 
into life under the warming influence of the 
sun, and now all is rife with interest and 
beauty. The tangled bank covered with 
many different kinds of plants and flowers, 
the sweet scents and sounds of Summer, 
and a thousand objects, attract and inspire 
me with the most powerful emotions. But 
I am not content, as formerly, to recline 
listlessly on the bank, and indulge my 
feelings of wonder and admiration : I tear 
the bark from the trees, and examine the 
insects that there take refuge, in order the 
better to assure myself that what naturalists 
tell us about their protective coloring is 
true. I dig in the moist earth for worms ; 
I watch the ant and the bee, thereby en- 
deavoring through personal observation to 
learn more about them. I make every ef- 
fort to read the book of Nature ; vainly 
hoping to woo her secret from her, and find 
out what she has in store for me after this 
life. Read I ever so wrongly, I console 
myself with the thought that I am doing 
my best — " Angels could no more." 



24 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



I do not believe that God does, or ever 
did, manifest himself through miracles ; he 
speaks to us through and in Nature. " The 
universe is governed by law," and, relying 
on the beneficence of the lawgiver, we dare 
hope that the tendency of these laws is to 
lead us to the Eternal. 

Granted that Ave can trace our ancestry 
in the ape, and still farther down, until we 
are constrained to acknowledge ourselves 
natural products of the earth. If God, out 
of inanimate clay, can produce living, breath- 
ing, man — man with his wonderful capabili- 
ties of pain and of pleasure — who shall say 
that he cannot also bestow immortality. 

Are God and Nature at strife, that our 
aspirations for something higher and better 
should never be realized ; that the fond 
dreams of happiness for all, that have been 
implanted in our bosoms should not be 
fulfilled ? If this be the end, then has God 
made man in vain, or to satisfy his own 
love of play, and we can then look upon 
this earth as nothing more than one of 
God's wonderful zoological gardens. Who, 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 2$ 

for a moment, could harbor such a thought ; 
are we more noble than our Creator ? 

How are we to account for the evil in 
this world, if it shall not, like some discord 
which resolves itself into harmony, be resolved 
into good in the next world ? Experience 
teaches that the goal of evil is good ; it is 
by overcoming evil that the race has been 
developed. Sleep, which robs us of a large 
share of our lives, we consider the greatest 
blessing of mankind, and death, which we 
now look upon with dread, we may yet 
praise as the good genius who will lead us 
to the Eternal. 



Letter No. II. 

From Herman to Lucius. 

I HAVE just bestowed the last lingering 
look on your letter. I need not describe 
to you the lively interest with which it was 
read, and the varying emotions it inspired. 
Gladly will I commune with my dear Lucius, 
and cement, by every right means in my 



26 PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



power, still more strongly the brotherly tie 
that binds us. 

You have said truly, the heart and 
reason undergo many changes. This is a 
world of change — everything is in a state 
of mutation, and each individual, as well 
as the whole race, has to traverse different 
stages of development. How eagerly we 
grasp the fine threads that lead onward, 
and, though the paths before us increase in 
interest and variety, yet do we let fall a 
tear over the many threads that have drop- 
ped from our hands. Do not imagine that 
the struggles of the individual are lost ; it 
is through the individual that the race must 
gain. 

How like my boyish, passionate Lucius 
are the words, " At times I think I would 
prefer hell to annihilation." Now, when, filled 
with the love of humanity, we feel that all 
or none will be saved, it is difficult to 
understand how man could ever contem- 
plate the idea of hell. 

It is not alone the good and the beau- 
tiful that delights man ; he also takes pleasure 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 2J 

in horrors. It is often this that makes him 
hurry to the theater ; it is this that makes 
him devour the criminal news. Let a per- 
son toward whom the world has felt in- 
different commit a great crime, and im- 
mediately he inspires an interest in the 
breasts of thousands. He has not grown more 
beautiful or good ; on the contrary, it is 
his very hideousness that attracts. The im- 
agination delights in scenes the reality of 
which would fill us with grief and despair. 
No doubt many a devotee has found pleasure 
in dwelling on the horrors of hell ; he has 
felt his whole being thrill with enthusiasm 
as imagination spread her hideous pictures 
before him ; when the merest glimpse of 
such a reality would have wrung his heart 
with sympathy for the poor sufferers. 

If death should snatch from me one of 
my children, or if I should lose one to 
whom my heart clings with fondest affec- 
tion, I, being capable of loving, as well as 
the believer, should feel sorely afflicted. How 
great my sorrow would be I cannot tell. 
Now it very naturally seems to me as if 



28 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



I never could bear such an affliction ; how- 
ever, my personal feelings can have very 
little to do with the subject before us. 

As long as hearts are tender and loving, 
they will quiver under each blow that is 
dealt them. We could not do without the 
sorrow for the dead — it speaks to us of 
love ; and 

"I hold it true, whate'er befall ; 
I feel it, when I sorrow most ; 
'Tis better to have loved and lost 
Than never to have loved at all." 

He is not noble who is insensible to 
suffering, but he is noble who feels keenly, 
yet bears his pain with fortitude. How 
grand is that warm and tender nature that 
goes out in love toward all mankind, and 
yet has learned to bear what cannot be 
changed ! 

We should know when to be passive 
and when to be active. If we are threat- 
ened with an evil which we can avert, we 
should strain every nerve, and use every 
means in our power, to ward it off ; but 
when the inevitable comes, all struggling is 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



2 9 



vain, and we must bow our heads to its 
decrees. As long as our loved ones are 
with us, it is well to be active in making 
them happy, and guarding them, as far as 
lies in our power, from evil ; but after death 
has claimed them, if we have not done 
our duty toward them before, it is then too 
late. Why do we submit to the loss of 
relatives and friends ? Is it not because 
there is no remedy, and we are powerless 
to make it otherwise ? To illustrate this I 
can do no better than to relate part of a 
Buddhist parable. 

"Some time after this, Kisagotami gave 
birth to a son. When the boy was able 
to walk by himself, he died. The young 
girl, in her love for it, carried the dead 
child clasped to her bosom, and went 
about from house to house, asking if any 
one could give her some medicine for it. 
' Is the young girl mad that she carries 
about on her breast the dead body of her 
son ! ' But a wise man thinking to himself, 
' Alas ! this Kisagotami does not understand 
the law of death, I must comfort her,' said 



30 PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 

to her, 'My good girl, I cannot myself 
give medicine for it, but I know of a doc- 
tor who can attend to it ; Buddha can give 
medicine ; you must go to him." 

" Kisagotami went to Buddha, and, doing 
homage to him, said, ' Lord and master, do 
you know any medicine that will be good 
for my boy ? ' Buddha replied, * I know of 
some ; I want a handful of mustard seed, 
taken from a house where no son, husband, 
parent, or slave, has died.' The girl went 
to ask for some at the different houses, 
carrying the dead body of her son astride 
on her hip. The people said, ' Here is 
some mustard seed ; take it.' Then she 
asked, ' In my friend's house has there died 
a son, a husband, a parent, or a slave ? ' 
They replied, ' Lady, what is this that you 
say ! The living are few, but the dead are 
many.' Then she went to other houses, but 
one said, 'I have lost a son;' another, 'I 
have lost my parents ; ' another, ' I have lost 
my slave.' At last, not being able to find 
a single house where no one had died, from 
which to procure the mustard seed, she began 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



3* 



to think, 'This is a heavy task that I am 
engaged in. I am not the only one whose 
son is dead. In the whole of the Savatthi 
country, everywhere children are dying, par- 
ents are dying.' Thinking thus, she was 
seized by fear, and putting away her affec- 
tion for her child, she summoned up re- 
solution, and left the dead body in a forest ; 
then she went to Buddha and paid him 
homage. He said to her, ' Have you pro- 
cured the handful of mustard seed ? ' 'I 
have not,' she replied ; the people of the 
village told me, ' The living are few, but 
the dead are many.' Buddha said to her, 
'You thought that you alone had lost a 
son ; the law of death is that among all 
living creatures there is no permanence.'" 

How deep the truth in this humanely 
beautiful parable ; it speaks to the suffering, 
and gently bids them to peacefully lay away 
their dead, for death is not to be struggled 
against : it does not single out its victims, 
but claims all alike. 

On the subject of immortality, people 
seem to be divided principally into three 



32 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



classes : Those who feel convinced that 
there is a future, and who at any moment 
can give a graphic description of their lim- 
ited heaven and bottomless hell. Belonging 
to the second class, are those who believe 
that in some inconceivable way the soul of 
man is immortal, and that somehow, some- 
where, we shall all be reunited to the dear 
departed. Lastly are those who positively 
do not believe in any hereafter ; and this 
class in reality has the least to fear from 
death. The first class, those who sing, "I 
know that my Redeemer liveth," know also 
that they have the same authority for their 
hell as they have for their heaven ; to be 
consistent, must they not live in continual 
dread lest some dear relative or friend be 
writhing in agony ? Very fortunately this 
class is not apt to be consistent, or there 
would be only two alternatives left them ; 
either the heart must become so hardened 
that they can contemplate with pleasure the 
idea that countless numbers of human beings 
are to suffer eternal misery ; or they must 
be a constant prey to anxiety in behalf of 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 33 

some departed sister, brother, parent, or 
friend. The second class must be harassed 
by many perplexing doubts ; they are not 
reconciled to the idea that death ends in 
a dreamless sleep, and they cannot be posi- 
tive that it is otherwise ; for never has the 
soul of a deceased person reappeared after 
death, though to do so has been the most 
earnest dying wish of many persons. Then, 
again, if they believe in God, they cannot 
expect that life in another world will be 
better than in this ; for if God has not ruled 
well in this world, how can they expect 
him to do better in another world ? They 
must even reflect that perhaps the lot of 
their immediate relatives and friends is not 
cast in as pleasant places in the future life 
as during this life. Many and numerous are 
the doubts that must suggest themselves 
as to the fate of the beloved dead. 

On the other hand, what can we fear 
from an eternal, dreamless sleep ? Death in 
this case is a sure panacea for all ills. No 
matter what misery is heaped upon a mortal 
body, there is always one remedy left — 



34 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



death — which ends in " Lethe's wave," gives 
a promise of rest and forgetfulness, and 
consequently excludes all pain and suffering. 
We have reason to hope that even in hell, 
if there were such a place, we could end 
all by plunging into "Lethe's wave." The 
Materialist (for the present we will so desig- 
nate the unbeliever in immortality) can in- 
quire into the origin of the human species 
with as much calmness and as little bias 
as he would study a pebble or a crystal ; 
he need not be hampered by religious 
scruples in considering the probability that, 
in remote ages to come, this earth will 
go circling around the sun an inert mass, 
her surface bleak and barren, devoid of all 
life ; he dare go yet farther, and picture to 
himself a time when perhaps our dear Mother 
Earth, after having passed through the de- 
crepitude of old age, will renew her youth, 
and again become a mass of glowing gas. 
What is there to fear if personal annihilation 
be true ? neither time nor change can affect 
our eternal rest. 

You lament that reason has destroyed 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 35 

your happy illusions, and you tremble lest 
it should give you nothing in return for 
what it has taken. Your own letter shows 
that it has given you much in return. 
You should rather rejoice that you are 
no longer content to remain in ignorance 
of the truths that are to be found in the 
wondrous works of Nature. A new world 
is opened to you, and you should be will- 
ing to "pluck the blessed fruit of the tree 
of knowledge," even if it is at some cost. 

The discovery of the New World by 
Columbus destroyed the illusion that the 
earth, as revealed in the Scriptures, is of a 
flat figure. Yet no sane person can shut his 
eyes to the fact that the New World does 
exist ; nor does it detract from the glory 
of this great discovery that it has helped 
to eradicate what some might call harm- 
less error, in order to make way for truth. 
Is it not the exercise of man's reasoning 
powers that makes him the crowning work of 
Nature ; and dare he then refrain from the 
free exercise of his reason, even if its decrees 
do not always satisfy his sensuous nature ? 



36 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



I now come to that part of your letter 
where you assume that there is a God. 
Certainly we may assume many things that 
we cannot actually prove, but then we must 
have the balance of evidence in our favor. 
You have been taught that there is a God, 
and from this basis you go on and define 
the attributes of this God, before having 
brought forth evidence that he even exists. 
This is a mode of reasoning by which, ap- 
parently, you can prove anything. Let us 
take a few examples from history, and see 
how it has misled mankind, and how in 
time of trial it has met with disastrous 
defeat. The Jews were taught to expect a 
Messiah ; and in former times their faith in 
the coming of this promised Messiah was 
as strong as any Theist's belief in God. 
How easy for any impostor to persuade 
the believing Jews that he was the Mighty 
Deliverer whom they with so much certainty 
expected. During the Middle Ages, when 
the Jews were pitilessly and sorely perse- 
cuted, many pretended Messiahs appeared 
and gained numerous adherents from all 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



37 



classes of society. The Jews having taken 
for granted that what had been taught 
them concerning a Messiah was true, it 
was no very difficult task to prove to them 
that the time was at hand, and that the 
expected Messiah had at last appeared. 

When Galileo taught that the earth 
moves around the sun, the Church apparently 
proved that such an idea was preposterous, 
for was it not a doctrine entirely contrary 
to the Scriptures and tradition ? In this 
way has religion endeavored to prove many 
things, but how little she has succeeded you 
well know. 

I one day overheard a conversation be- 
tween your two nephews, which seems to 
afford an example that may strike you 
more forcibly than any I can take from 
history, with which you are already familiar. 
First, I will say that when your nephews 
have asked about their origin, they have 
been given the explanation that they were 
found in the woods. The boys had been 
carrying on quite an exciting conversation 
about war, when the younger one startled 



3S 



PERSONAL IMMOR TALIT Y. 



his brother by saying, "I saw a war once, 
and heard the cannons and guns." " Why, 
no," answered the elder brother ; " you 
never were near a war, and I am going to 
ask mamma." To this our imaginative dar- 
ling, nothing daunted, replied, "Well, but, 
brother, mamma don't know ; this was be- 
fore she found me in the woods." Certainly 
this was unanswerable. Though your little 
nephew could not prove that he had wit- 
nessed a battle, yet one might not always 
(providing they take for granted, as he did, 
that he was found in the woods) be able to 
disprove it. 



Letter No. III. 

From Lucius to Herman. 

I SEE you have spared no pains in an- 
swering my letter — no, you have not even 
spared my God ; and I am unhappy and 
lost without him. Sweet Ellen, my first 
and only love, has departed with her pa- 
rents for Europe. We have uttered the sad, 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 39 

wild word farewell, our hearts stirred with 
many fears that breathe despair, yet prom- 
ising, hoping, that all will be well. How 
I long to say, God protect my darling ; 
time, and time again, the words seem ready 
to burst from my swelling heart, only to 
be smothered by the thought that it is but 
mockery. Is it not hard to leave the fate 
of my love to chance ? Is there no pro- 
tecting angel whose aid I can invoke ? 
Ah, could I but honestly say, God protect 
her! 

I am desolate ; this one feeling so fills 
my soul that at present I have but little 
inclination for the task I have undertaken ; 
however, I shall write as often as I am in 
the humor, and it will not be long before 
my fragments will be before you, ready for 
your perusal. 

You have pleaded the cause of the un- 
believer in personal immortality well, and 
almost proved that he, least of all, has 
reason to fear death. But vain is all your 
pleading ; though all the Muses should com- 
bine in singing the praises of an eternal 



40 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY, 



sleep, yet will man desire immortality. 
There is something- within the human breast 
that argues so eloquently and forcibly in 
favor of personal continuance as to bring- 
more conviction than all your wisdom. Here 
is a problem for you : Why is it that man 
in all ages has desired, hoped for, and 
had faith in, immortality ? It is the pillar 
that holds up all religions ; without it, they 
cannot rise ; take away this support, and 
they fall to the ground. It is an inex- 
haustible fountain of consolation at which 
all may drink, without itself being dimin- 
ished. 

Surely our intuitions count for something-. 
What we know and feel does not flow alone 
from our experience, but from a richer and 
deeper source, namely, our intuition and 
imagination. When reason fails to perceive 
the truth, our intuition assures us of it. 
Man intuitively shrinks from homicide, and 
as intuitively does he recoil at the idea of 
annihilation. There is something within us 
that speaks better, quicker, and more to 
the point, than our reason ; when the brain 



PERSONAL I MM OR TA LITY. 



4 I 



is tired, worn out, and in need of rest, 
this voice within us can be heard, before 
the poor, sluggish brain has had time to go 
through the process of reasoning. How 
quickly this something within our breast takes 
in the good, the pure, the beautiful, with- 
out stopping to take counsel, or to ask 
reason what really is good, pure, or beau- 
tiful. This voice within me has been my 
true and trusty friend, and surely I may 
listen, without fear of being deceived, to 
its sweet accents when it whispers, The soul 
of man is immortal. Emerson says, "Our 
progress is an unfolding, like the vegetable 
bud. You have first an instinct, then an 
opinion, then knowledge, as the plant has 
root, bud and fruit. Trust the instinct to 
the end, though you can render no reason. 
It is vain to hurry it.- By trusting it to 
the end, it shall ripen into truth, and you 
shall know why you believe." 

Though progressive thought rejects Chris- 
tianity, though the immutability of the laws 
of nature cannot fail to impress even a 
superficial observer, though the theory of 



42 PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



evolution makes it hard for an immortalist 
to see his way clearly, we may, notwithstand- 
ing, hope that some tangible and convincing 
proof of immortality will yet be discovered. 
Until we have searched nature through and 
through, we cannot say that personal con- 
tinuance is impossible. Are we not ourselves 
a striking proof of the triumph of personal- 
ity over the changes of matter ? Our mor- 
tal body changes not only in death, but 
also during life. We change so rapidly 
that a very short time suffices to make us 
new beings ; old atoms are exchanged for 
new, and the old body is constantly mak- 
ing way for a new body, yet our personal- 
ity continues ; it is always we, ourselves, 
and no one else. We leave the joys of in- 
fancy for those of boyhood ; boyhood gives 
place to the more earnest thoughts and 
pursuits of manhood ; to manhood succeeds 
old age, with its peculiar joys and sorrows, 
its weakness and its strength ; yet, through 
all, it is we, ourselves. We all enter this 
world naked, helpless, hungry, and ignorant, 
but some have risen to a height truly re- 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



43 



markable, until like some mighty magnet 
they attract all within reach of their influ- 
ence, and their power is felt for ages after 
their ashes have been laid to rest. What 
thoughts have chased through their minds ; 
what emotions have swayed them ; what 
innumerable pictures have been flashed upon 
their brain — some, perhaps, so vivid and 
thrilling, as to affect their whole lives, and, 
through them, the lives of others. Words 
are inadequate to describe, we cannot take 
in all, the changes that a mighty intellect 
undergoes from the time it enters this world, 
a helpless sentient being, until it reaches 
the acme of its power ; and, through all, the 
personality remains ; it is the same soul, 
whether it looks through the eyes of infancy, 
or through those of manhood, or old age. 

It seems a little inconsistent that Ma- 
terialists, while so earnestly maintaining that 
force and matter are immortal, and that what 
disappears in one place must reappear in 
another, in the same breath assert that 
the soul is annihilated, is lost ; that when 
death comes, that is the end of man. 



44 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



In your letter you disposed of my God 
in rather a summary manner, hardly in 
keeping with the gravity of such a subject. 
However, I shall reiterate one of my argu- 
ments, and substitute the word Nature in 
place of God. If Nature out of atoms could 
unfold the existing universe, if out of an- 
organa, or inorganic matter, she could evolve 
man, why can she not make man immortal ? 
The phenomena of Nature are so wonderful 
that we cannot think of anything so im- 
possible but that it may be possible to 
Nature. We know too well that what to- 
day is looked upon as wild, visionary, and 
not befitting the consideration of sensible 
people, to-morrow may be looked upon us 
quite feasible, perfectly natural. The ephem- 
era in its one short day of April life can- 
not tell what bloom, beauty, and perfection 
the Summer will bring ; and so with man : 
his life is too ephemeral, too fleeting, to 
view Nature as a whole ; and from that 
which is, he cannot always conceive of that 
which will be or has been. We read Nature 
through her works. "I read the soul of 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



45 



the artist in his Apollo." " Each coming 
Spring, forcing the sprouts of plants out of 
the earth, gives me explanation of the awful 
riddle of death, and contradicts my anxious 
fears about an everlasting sleep. The swal- 
low that we find stiffened in Winter, and 
see waking up to life after ; the dead grub 
coming to life again as the butterfly, and 
rising into the air — all these give excellent 
pictures of our immortality" (Schiller.) 

Do not think because you cannot solve 
the mystery of immortality that, on that 
account, it cannot be true. Can you under- 
stand how out of sixty-five or seventy sim- 
ple elements the universe has been devel- 
oped ? Do you not concede myriads of things 
to be true which you can neither explain 
nor prove ? When we look up and endeavor 
to penetrate limitless space, must we not 
curb our proud spirit and say with Win- 
chell, " In the presence of infinity, what can 
man do but bow his head and worship." 



4 6 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



Letter No. IV. 

From Herman to Lucius. 

YOU are unhappy without your God, 
though the latter part of your letter shows 
that you have not yet learned to do entirely 
without him ; you do not expect any imme- 
diate aid from him, yet you have a vague idea 
that he exists. I sympathize with you deeply. 
How many sorrows and pains there are which 
man feels his utter helplessness to avert ! and 
in his extremity he would implore help of 
some god-like power, that, man-like, would 
respect his feelings, and that, god-like, could 
cause Nature to deal more gently with him. 
Experience, too, strongly shows that our cries 
to God for help are unavailing, otherwise 
there is not an Infidel born who would not 
willingly call upon God and angels to protect 
his loved ones. 

Do not blame me for pushing aside the 
veil, and laying the truth bare before you. I 
dare not do otherwise ; deception is too dan- 
gerous a foe of mankind to make me wish to 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



47 



cultivate it, and, believe me, sugar-coated 
pills are always the bitterest in the end. 

I think I have found the solution to the 
problems you have given me, though I could 
wish to have it presented to you by a more 
able mind than mine. First we will see how 
much reliance is to be placed on our intuitions, 
of which you speak with so much confidence. 

To have an intuitive perception of the 
truth, independent of all human experience, 
man must possess innate ideas, and through 
these he is supposed to arrive at a knowledge 
of things independent of sensuous experience. 
I cannot think of an instance where man 
can gain any knowledge independent of 
sensuous experience, the original source of 
all knowledge. On the contrary, the action 
of the soul is bound fast to that of the 
senses. The blind cannot know colors, 
the deaf cannot know sounds. What can 
intuition teach the poor blind, deaf mute 
about God and immortality ? All history is 
known either directly or indirectly through 
experience. 

If we possess innate ideas, why is it that 



4 8 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



there is so little uniformity ; that we do not 
agree only where reason can bring plain, 
comprehensive, and undeniable proof. 

Plato's heaven was for philosophers ; that 
of the early Christians for the poor and ig- 
norant ; the Mohammedan's heaven is an 
abode of sensual delights ; and that of the 
Indian a happy hunting-ground. All nations 
have made a heaven to suit their own peculiar 
tastes and fancies. 

^Esthetical, moral, and metaphysical no- 
tions are certainly very contradictory, and, 
unless guided by reason, utterly unreliable. 

Let us see a few of the caprices intuition 
indulges in concerning the beautiful. Our 
ideas of the beautiful are very apt to vary 
with every changing fashion. This point is 
well enough illustrated by our American peo- 
ple. The Chinese admire very fat women, 
with feet so small that they can scarcely 
walk ; the Americans prefer women of slight, 
ethereal form — though since tight-lacing is 
out of date their ideas in this respect have 
become somewhat modified. Some nations 
admire a black complexion, and a flat nose 



PERSONA L IMMOR TALITY. 



49 



in which rings are hung — a sight disgusting 
to us. Savages paint and tattoo their bodies, 
and make many efforts to beautify them- 
selves, which in our eyes only add to their 
hideousness. 

Moral ideas are the result of gradual 
experience and development. The moral 
ideas of man in a state of nature are very 
crude, and often revolting. He is ignorant, 
and intuition does not help him distinguish 
the good, the beautiful, and the pure. It 
is only after many generations that he ac- 
quires through inheritance a highly moral 
nature ; he then becomes in a considerable 
degree organically moral. You quote from 
Emerson, " Trust the instinct to the end, 
though you can render no reason," etc. The 
Fejeeans trust their instinct when they 
strangle their aged parents and relatives ; 
they think they are doing a laudable act ; 
they expect to enter the next world ex- 
actly as they are when leaving this ; there- 
fore, children consider it a kindness to 
strangle parents before infirmity sets in. 
The aboriginese of Brazil, it is said, de- 



50 PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 

voured their relatives, as a mark of honor. 
The lowest savages consider great and glo- 
rious such acts as lying, murder, theft, and 
cannibalism. 

Man emerges from this savage state 
when he can reap the benefit of the ex- 
perience and spiritual struggles of long gen- 
erations of ancestors. Hasckel says, " Know- 
ledge which is based originally upon purely 
empirical observations, and which is there- 
fore a purely sensuous experience, but has 
been transmitted from generation to genera- 
tion by inheritance, appears in later gen- 
erations as if it were independent, innate, 
and a priori!' The virtues practiced by our 
ancestors have helped build up our moral 
nature, therefore we cannot prize too highly 
every good and wise thought or act ; neither 
can we too much fear ignorance and the 
practice of evil ; the former makes us noble 
and happy ; the latter leads to degeneracy 
and ruin. 

We inherit predispositions ; and on most 
questions of morality we either have an 
opinion, or have accepted the opinions of 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 5 1 

others, so that a highly moral being" quickly 
feels what is right and what is wrong, 
without continually going through the whole 
process of reasoning. 

You ask, " Why is it that man in all 
ages has desired, hoped for, and had faith 
in immortality ? " There have been more men 
without faith in immortality than you, per- 
haps, imagine ; and if the skeptics on this 
subject have been comparatively few, there 
are many good reasons for it. What a 
weapon this threat of hell is ; it has forced 
conviction through fear, rather than reason, 
and many have believed only in order to 
be on the safe side. The instinctive love of 
life is so strong that, even though death 
claims all living forms as his victims, and 
we must submit in reality, yet in imagination 
we defy him ; then add to this the desire 
of again meeting and recognizing our lost 
loved ones. We are only too willing to 
believe in personal continuance ; our desire 
to prove it true is so intense that we can 
hardly examine the subject impartially and 
without prejudice. It is only when we can 



52 PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 

deceive ourselves no longer, that we are 
satisfied to work for a heaven in the present, 
instead of waiting for one in the future. 

Though Plato is most eloquent on the 
immortality of the soul, yet has he put into 
the mouth of Socrates the following forcible 
words: "Now, if you suppose that there is 
no consciousness but a sleep, like the sleep 
of him who is undisturbed even by the sight 
of dreams, death will be an unspeakable 
gain. For if a person were to select the 
night in which his sleep was undisturbed 
even by dreams, and were to compare with 
this the other days and nights he had passed 
in the course of his life, better and more 
pleasantly than this one, I think that any 
man, the Great King even, will not find 
many such days or nights, when compared 
with these. Now, if death is like this, I 
say that to die is gain, for eternity is then 
only a single night." David did not have 
much faith in a hereafter, and endeavored 
to persuade God, on that account, to deliver 
him in sickness. " For in death," said the 
Psalmist, "there is no remembrance of thee: 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



53 



in the grave who shall give thee thanks ? " 
Psalm vi, 5. 

" O* spare me that I may recover my 
strength, before I go hence and be no 
more." Psalm xxxix, 13. 

Mirabeau, the French statesman, the 
morning of his death uttered the following 
memorable words : " My friend, I shall die 
to-day. When one has come to such a 
juncture, there remains only one thing to 
be done : that is, to be perfumed, crowned 
with flowers, and surrounded with music in 
order to enter sweetly into that slumber 
from which no one awakens." 

The religion established by Moses did 
not teach immortality. The Mosaic doctrine 
was introduced among the children of Israel 
when they were ignorant slaves and idola- 
tors, and under this system a nation de- 
veloped whose religion, history, and litera- 
ture have influenced the whole Christian 
world. Buddhism, which in its numerous va- 
rieties is still the religion of a large por- 
tion of mankind, preaches non-existence as 
the highest object of deliverance ; from this, 



54 PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 

however, it does not necessarily follow that 
all Buddhists teach or believe this doctrine. 
In all probability, the different sects, like 
those of Christianity, teach diametrically op- 
posed doctrines, leaving each individual to 
take his choice. But nothing better illus- 
trates the fact that faith in immortality is 
not an innate and incontrovertible idea than 
the present age. Everywhere we meet with 
Materialists. Germany, which is called, and 
perhaps with some justice, " Die cultur Nation 
der Welt," counts among the unbelievers in 
personal continuance many of its greatest 
intellects. Even in this country Materialists 
are to be found in all grades of society. 
True, they are comparatively few, but still 
sufficient for our argument. We have also 
a class whose belief is materialistic, only 
they have retained old names, and substi- 
tuted new meanings. By them Nature is 
called God ; force is called soul ; and the 
immortality of force, the immortality of the 
soul. 

No doubt the desire for immortality 
generally outlives the faith in immortality. 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 55 

The desire is the result of one of our 
strongest instincts, namely, love of life. 
This feeling causes man to plant hope on 
the grave, and imagination extends the hope 
into the infinite. It is life that all animate 
forms, both animals and plants, are strug- 
gling for, and man is reluctant to let go 
his hold even in death. Die he must, but 
he can go on the road to his grave blind- 
folded, while he fills his soul with pictures 
drawn by imagination ; alas for him ! the 
illusive pictures of imagination, when un- 
guided by reason, are often more horrible, 
and certainly more to be dreaded, than the 
sternest reality. 

I think the desire for immortality can 
be explained by the law of the " survival 
of the fittest." Self-preservation is the first 
law of nature, and those who do not love 
life enough to struggle for it must in time 
succumb to the more vital and life-loving. 
The struggle for existence that has been 
going on for so many generations has built 
up and strengthened this instinct, so that 
we have inherited it in all its present force 



56 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



and power. In past ages, some men have 
so ruthlessly and selfishly indulged this in- 
stinct that they hated and persecuted all 
who dared in any way disturb their calm 
and satisfied contemplation of a life of eternal 
happiness for themselves and of eternal mis- 
ery for others. 

It is true that the belief in a conscious 
immortality stands, in spite of the weakness 
of its support ; men entertain this hope, 
no matter how unreasonable or improbable. 
Instinct demands life, and causes aspiration 
after an eternal life ; it is little concerned 
whether its demands satisfy reason or not ; 
and pure reason also passes its decrees 
without troubling itself whether its decisions 
will satisfy the sensuous nature or not. 

People haunted with the intolerable dread 
of death have attempted to discover an elixir 
of life ; they believed in it, no matter how 
unreasonable ; they desired it, no matter 
how futile ; and, no doubt, even now, the 
majority of mankind would be willing to 
exchange their shadowy future for a real 
(were such a thing possible) elixir which 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 

would guarantee the possessor a life of a 
thousand years' duration. Thus we see man's 
reason and instinct are not always in har- 
mony ; and, perhaps, in this case, the men- 
tal struggle is one of the fiercest the hu- 
man race has to undergo. 

You think that because man's personal- 
ity triumphs over so many changes it can 
triumph over all. Have you reflected,, my 
dear Lucius, that all animals possess person- 
ality ? and that if we follow up your train 
of reasoning, we shall be led to the con- 
clusion that the number of the immortals 
will be composed mostly of the lowest 
forms of animals ? The personal soul of no 
animate form is immortal — for was it not 
non-existent during a whole eternity ? 

You argue wrongly when you say that 
nothing is impossible with Nature ; and that 
if she can make you out of clay, she can 
make you imperishable. Nature is not a 
God, and she cannot do everything ; her 
laws are mechanical, they are immutable, 
and regard neither the tears nor prayers of 
humanity. True, the wonders of Nature are 



5 8 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 



inexhaustible, and scarcely perceptible forces 
can produce great effects. We must not, how- 
ever, limit ourselves as to time — it is ample. 
Mountains are leveled, islands rise and sink ; 
everywhere is change and mutation ; but all 
must happen in harmony with the laws of 
Nature. A piece of lead not supported 
must always fall toward the center of the 
earth ; neither God nor Nature can alter 
this law. 

It is very easy to assert that until we 
have searched Nature through and through 
we cannot say that personal continuance is 
impossible. The same might be argued in 
favor of many wild, visionary, and improb- 
able notions. Suppose I were to tell you 
that it had been revealed that somewhere 
in space there existed a magic stone, no 
larger than an ordinary egg ; that at death 
this magic stone attracted the departing 
spirit, and bore it to an island on some 
far-distant planet. No one can prove this ; 
still you cannot disprove it until you have 
searched all space. 

Do you regret that philosophy destroys 



PERSONAL IMMORTALITY. 59 

many a long-cherished hope ? The loss is not 
so great, after all ; for, even if the soul were 
immortal, the present only is ours ; more than 
this the gods themselves cannot claim. If 
we are happy now, our happiness is as great 
as if we had been happy from all eternity. 
Death need no longer concern us : "For where 
we are, death is not ; and where death is, 
we are not." 

On the other hand, we have much to 
gain : in place of an imaginary hereafter, 
we can more firmly clasp and adapt our- 
selves to the dear reality ; we shall find our- 
selves constrained to strive for a heaven on 
this earth, where we shall endeavor to live 
happy days, instead of dreaming of them ; 
where we shall practice virtue, in order to 
become moral, instead of waiting to practice 
virtue until God shall make us moral. 
Truth is always a gain; the more man un- 
derstands his true place in nature, the better 
will he be able to resolve the discords that 
surround him into harmony. 



MATERIALISM. 



MATERIALISM. 

THE NAKED DOCTRINE. 
The ancient Greeks clothed all natural 
phenomena with living attributes. Sunset 
was the sun growing old, and dying ; sunrise 
was night giving birth to a child of light. 
Mountains, grottos, forests, rivers, fountains, 
rain, storm, and thunder were filled with the 
supernatural. The air must have been op- 
pressive, laden with the breath of invisible 
spirits. Man trembled before the creations 
of his own imagination ; he listened with fear 
to the whispering wind ; he watched with 
dread the fleeting clouds ; he looked upon 
the various phases of nature as being caused 
at the pleasure or caprice of the gods. 
The Greek had not yet studied nature in 
search of truth, but took the easier way, and 
drew upon his imagination for the explanation 



6 4 



MA TERIA LISM. 



of all phenomena. To him, health, life, and 
happiness were bestowed by good spirits ; 
pain, misfortune, and death were inflicted by 
evil spirits. In this way questions were solved 
which to-day occupy the minds of our great- 
est scientists. 

As the Greeks became closer observers 
of nature, the age of the supernatural began 
to wane ; secluded spots were no longer en- 
chanted ; the incantations of the sorceress 
were without effect ; miracles ceased, and 
the oracles as well as the gods became mute. 
When these questions, which occupied the 
minds of men in all ages, were asked : 
" Whence came I?" " Whither am I tending ? " 
they could not be answered as heretofore by 
the words of the oracle, or the revelations 
of the gods, for these had been found to be 
symbols of ignorance instead of truth. Sci- 
ence was not yet far enough advanced to build 
up in place of what had heen demolished : 
skepticism superseded the gods, and for a 
time reigned supreme. Men began to doubt 
their very existence, the existence of any- 
thing, and to look upon everything as a 



MA TERIALISM. 



65 



dream and an illusion. Nor is this to be 
wondered at ; imagination had so long mis- 
led them that they began to think there 
were no means of arriving at the truth. 

Infidelity and skepticism were the dawn 
of science in Greece ; the trammels of super- 
stition had been thrown off, which left a 
full enjoyment of liberty of thought. Very 
rapidly the conviction grew strong that 
events were not brought about by the inter- 
position of the divine power of the gods, 
but that they were the unfailing consequences 
of general laws. Astonishing progress was 
made in science, and very soon theories of 
life and death were evolved similar to 
those of the present day. Darwin, in his 
" Origin of Species," very gracefully ac- 
knowledges that the principle of natural 
selection was " shadowed forth " by Aristotle, 
and in a note he says : " Aristotle, after 
remarking that rain does not fall in order 
to make the corn grow, any more than it 
falls to spoil the farmer's corn when threshed 
out of doors, applies the same argument to 
organization." It would appear from the 



66 MATERIALISM, 

above that Aristotle did not see design in 
nature ; and the mode of reasoning" is analo- 
gous to that of some of the writers of the 
present day, as, for instance, birds did not 
receive wings to enable them to fly, but 
they fly because they have wings. Examples 
of this kind could be given covering many 
pages. That part of Darwin's quotation 
from Aristotle which seems to apply more 
directly to the principle of natural selection 
is as follows : " Wheresoever, therefore, 
all things together (that is, all the parts 
of one whole) happened like as if they were 
made for something, these are preserved, 
having been appropriately constituted by an 
internal spontaneity ; and whatsoever things 
were not thus constituted, perished and 
still perish." 

Zeno, the great stoic, a cotemporary of 
Aristotle, said (as given in Draper's " Con- 
flict Between Religion and Science"): " We 
must remember that every thing around us 
is in mutation ; decay follows reproduction, 
and reproduction decay; and that it is use- 
less to repine at death in a world where 



MATERIALISM. 



6/ 



everything is dying." And again : " Nothing 
is eternal but space, atoms, force. The 
forms of nature that we see are essentially 
transitory ; they must all pass away." We 
here see an acknowledgment of the law 
of change, and a rejection of the idea of 
creation ; what is called creation is only a 
generating of life from death, a reproduction 
which follows decay. Although all the forms 
of nature that we see pass away, the matter 
of which they are composed remains. Noth- 
ing being eternal but atoms, space, and 
force, there can be no such thing as crea- 
tion, for all that is transitory is generated 
from the eternal. 

About six hundred years after the time 
of which we have been writing, Rome was 
also ripe for a change ; and as she had 
accepted Grecian mythology, so she would 
have accepted Grecian science, had it not 
been for that combination ever ruinous to 
public liberty — monarchy and Christianity. 
Religious fanaticism has ever been ready to 
fill the coffers, and recruit the armies of 
tyrants. Constantine, the first Christian 



68 



MA TER1ALISM. 



emperor, was not slow to perceive this. 
Notwithstanding ecclesiastical history ascribes 
the conversion of Constantine to a miracle, 
seen with his own eyes during one of his 
marches, namely, the celestial sign of the 
cross inscribed with the words, " By this 
conquer," it is more probable that he placed 
himself at the head of the Christian party 
for his own aggrandizement. There is no 
doubt Christianity gave Constantine adher- 
ents whose sabers were sharpened with re- 
ligious zeal, and who were ready to en- 
counter fire and sword in his behalf. With- 
out these religious enthusiasts, he would 
never have worn the imperial purple. 

It is remarkable that, during the reign 
of Constantine, heresy was so rife, even 
though miracles were performed to confirm 
the truth. Gibbon tells us that a new 
creed sprung up with every new moon. 
One of the principal causes of dispute was 
concerning the Trinity, some claiming that 
the Son was not coequal with the Father ; 
others that he was not infinite, but that, 
according to the nature of things, the Son 



MA TER1AL1SM. 



69 



must be younger than the Father. All dis- 
putes of this character were settled by 
synods; and if the doctrines were declared 
erroneous, those professing them had their 
property confiscated, and were themselves 
thrown into disgrace, and their leaders exiled. 
That these synods at one time accepted as 
a part of the creed what at another time 
they condemned, Arianism 'affords sufficient 
proof. At one time, according to the con- 
flicting decrees of the Council of Bishops, 
the gates of Heaven were only open to 
those who believed the Son to be consub- 
stantial with the Father ; at another time, 
such a belief was sacrilegious. 

The Christians could not tolerate the 
study of philosophy, because it was too often 
the parent of heresy and unbelief. The 
philosophic mind rejects all evidence of a 
supernatural character, and this is the only 
evidence that can be brought forward in 
favor of Christianity. It rests on no better 
foundation than Buddhism, Mohammedanism 
or any of the various forms of religious be- 
lief. It makes unbelief the greatest of all 



70 



MA TERIAL1SM. 



crimes, and therefore could not consistently, 
and, as history amply proves, did not, tol- 
erate the light of science. About A. D. 
400, Hyapatia, a philosopher, fell a victim 
to the Christian antagonism to science. 
She delivered lectures in Alexandria, and 
among other subjects discussed the doctrines 
of Plato and Aristotle. Her lecture-room 
was thronged, but most so when her sub- 
ject had a bearing on those two mysteries — 
life and death. This learned and courage- 
ous woman had yet to learn that all such 
questions were decided by revelation after 
it had undergone interpretation by the 
Church. A number of zealous monks con- 
spired against her, pulled her out of her 
chariot, dragged her to a church, and there 
murdered her ; with religious frenzy her 
flesh was scraped from the bones, and her 
members gathered together and consumed 
by fire. The perpetrators of this atrocious 
crime were not punished. 

Thus, we see, philosophy was listened 
to with avidity by the Romans. The decay 
of paganism, and the general skepticism 



MATERIALISM. 



7* 



and ridicule felt for the old superstitions — 
all these had prepared the Roman mind 
for philosophy, and had it not been 
for Christian intolerance combined with 
monarchical power, Grecian science would not 
have become extinct, only to be revived at 
this late day. 

The Christian world, like Greece three 
hundred years before Christ, is fast outgrow- 
ing her ancient faith. Germany, the cradle 
of the Reformation, has also become the 
cradle of modern skepticism, and from there 
it has spread and taken deep root all over 
Europe and America. 

In the first ages of Christianity skepticism 
was punished with death ; but slowly the truth 
dawned upon men that the only safety for 
humanity is liberty of thought — for the belief of 
to-day may become the heresy of to-morrow. 

Our orthodox forefathers were very wise. 
Questions that to-day puzzle our greatest 
intellects they solved according to revelation 
with the utmost ease. They talked of the 
creation as if they had been present on the 
occasion ; of the future abode of the elect as 



72 



MATERIALISM. 



if they had been there and taken an inventory. 
Miracles were of frequent occurrence, and no 
one dared doubt them ; but it is to be re- 
gretted that now, when religion is in danger, 
and miracles are most needed, they have 
entirely ceased. 

Being more profoundly impressed with our 
ignorance than our forefathers were, the two 
mysteries — life and death — again engage our 
most earnest attention. 

Life surrounds us in endless variety, be- 
stowed by the lavish hand of Nature. Veg- 
etable life invites our admiration. Green 
meadows, shady groves, the hillside covered 
with wild herbs and flowers ; the landscape as 
far as the eye can reach is covered with vege- 
tation. The variety interests us, and recalls 
to our minds having read somewhere that it 
is supposed there are 25,000 vegetable species, 
and the number of animal species has been 
estimated at 30,000. The vegetable king- 
dom covers the earth with beauty, and so 
fills our sight that we can hardly realize that 
the animal kingdom exceeds it both in size 
and variety. 



MATERIALISM. 



73 



A drop of water seen through a micro- 
scope will be found to swarm with living 
beings in active motion. These infusoria, 
which are not discernible with the naked eye, 
abound in every lake, ditch, or pool ; in fact, 
wherever air, heat, and moisture work to- 
gether, a few moments will suffice to develop 
countless numbers of these wonderful and 
minute forms of animal life. Mountain, for- 
est, ocean, river — the whole earth is preg- 
nant with organic life. It presses in wherever 
there is room and encouragement, under an 
infinite variety of conditions, and, conse- 
quently, in an infinite variety of forms. 
Death follows with unfailing certainty. This 
is one of the immutable decrees of nature. 

It has been the popular belief that this 
earth only is the theater of life and death ; 
that the sun was placed in the heavens 
to give light by day and the moon to give 
light by night, and that the starry firma- 
ment was to separate the earth from the 
abode of angels and gods. The telescope 
has removed the dwelling-place of spirits to 
an inconceivably remote distance. With the 



74 



MA TERIALISM. 



increased power of the telescope, new astral 
systems have been discovered, and others 
will, no doubt, still continue to be discovered, 
as there can be no limit to these systems ; for 
not only is our solar system kept in its place 
by other systems, but these in turn by still 
others, and so on without end. 

Since the discovery of spectrum analysis, 
it has been found that the heavenly bodies 
are composed of the same elements as our 
earth. Professor KirchhofT says, " Matter and 
forces in the whole universe are essentially 
identical." 

Who shall say how many worlds there 
are, inhabited by beings similar to ourselves, 
and even superior, for, in the words of the 
poet laureate of England— 

"This truth within thy mind rehearse- 
That in a boundless universe 
Is boundless better, boundless worse." 

Nature includes everything, and on her 
organic life is dependent for all that is 
necessary to existence — light, air, water, 
food, etc. The supernatural has never for 
an instant asserted itself above Nature. 



MATERIALISM. 



7$ 



When I am standing- on terra firma, I do 
not need the supernatural to keep me from 
sinking ; when I am not near the fire, I 
do not need the supernatural to keep me 
from burning ; when I have an abundance 
of food, I do not need the supernatural to 
keep me from starving. But if I am in 
the water, shall I not sink ? If I am in the 
fire, shall I not burn ? Without food, shall 
I not starve ? As long as Nature preserves 
me, I do not need the supernatural, but 
when Nature no longer preserves me, I may 
look in vain for help elsewhere. We owe 
all conditions and circumstances, whether 
good or evil, death or continuance of life, 
to Nature, and shall we also not look to 
her for our origin ? 

That the world did not come into ex- 
istence in its. present condition has been 
scientifically established, and can no longer 
be denied. Some acknowledge this fact re- 
luctantly ; others, who hold the so-called 
theory of Evolution in its fullest extent, 
believe not only that the world, but all 
that is in it, did not originate in its present 



7 6 



MATERIALISM. 



developed state ; still further, that all or- 
ganic forms, from the lowest up to man, 
have developed from living microscopic par- 
ticles. 

There was a time, it is believed, when 
the earth was a fiery globe, incapable of 
producing, and fatal to the existence of, ani- 
mal organisms. After it had gradually cooled 
down, and those conditions were brought 
about which render vegetable and animal 
life possible, a few moments would suffice 
for the earth, by means of air, heat, and 
moisture, to develop organic life. 

The geological record shows that the 
earth has teemed with living beings through 
incalculable periods of time, the lowest types 
appearing first. From this we naturally con- 
clude that the lowest forms have passed 
into the higher forms by slight and imper- 
ceptible transitions, and almost every science 
contributes knowledge to strengthen this 
conclusion, more particularly that department 
of natural history called Morphology. Mor- 
phology teaches that each great class of 
animals and plants is constructed on the 



MATERIALISM. 



77 



same general plan ; as, for instance, the 
arm of a man, the fore-limb of a quadruped, 
the wing - of a bat, the fin of a fish, all 
contain the same essential parts, modified 
and adapted to widely different uses, accord- 
ing to the habits of the animal. So we 
see man did not come from the hands of 
s God a perfect being, but was brought forth 
by his mother, Nature, with many pangs, 
and after long ages of labor. 

As our knowledge increases, the con- 
viction becomes stronger that Nature has 
done everything. She has entirely relieved 
God of the labor of creation. Evolution 
explains that vegetable and animal organisms 
originated in a natural manner without the 
aid of a supernatural power or agency. 
Man, the highest type of the animal king- 
dom, has been developed, through vast 
periods of time, from the simplest begin- 
nings, thus connecting him to his mother 
earth by a chain, the links of which differ 
one from the other, if it be only as much 
as a varying fiber. Never can man sever 
this endless, intricate chain, for " Dust 



7% 



MATERIALISM. 



thou art, and unto dust thou shalt re- 
turn." 

The organic forms of matter having come 
into existence in a natural manner, it may- 
be asked, how did matter come into ex- 
istence ? Matter is immortal, indestructible, 
and can neither be created nor annihilated. 
" An atom of iron," quotes Buchner, " re- 
mains, at all events the same thing, no 
matter whether it thunders along the rail- 
road track in the wheel of the locomotive, 
or flies through the air in a meteor, or 
courses in a blood-cell through the tem- 
poral veins of a poet." 

There are many things which lead men 
to believe that matter could be annihilated. 
Vegetables and animals are constantly dis- 
appearing from the surface of the earth, 
but we all know that nothing is lost, and 
that decomposition is only a process by 
which particles of matter change places and 
assume new forms. A burning taper grows 
shorter and shorter until at last it is all 
gone, and apparently destroyed ; but this is 
only apparently so, as the candle has only 



MATERIALISM. 



79 



been changed into invisible gases, and not 
one atom has been lost. As matter can- 
not be annihilated, it could not have been 
created, and we ourselves are composed of 
matter as old as infinity. 

Man in his search for something upon 
which to rest his hopes of immortality may 
reason as follows : Matter cannot be anni- 
hilated, and therefore I, who am composed 
of matter, cannot be annihilated, and con- 
sequently I am immortal. This is only one 
of the phases through which the mind 
passes in its search after truth, for the in- 
destructibility of matter is the very founda- 
tion upon which Materialism rests. If the 
indestructibility of matter gives immortality, 
then every worm, insect, snd animalcule 
that has ever existed — in fact, the whole 
vegetable and animal kingdoms — must be 
immortal. 

Even if matter is immortal, we possess 
it but a short time, as nature demands 
every atom ; each generation of animals and 
plants inherits the matter and force of pre- 
ceding generations. 



So 



MA TERIALISM. 



There was a time when we did not 
exist ; when nobody knew anything of us 
and we knew nothing of anybody ; and 
that time will come again, for when we 
pay our last debt to Nature, and she de- 
prives us of our bodies, she must also de- 
prive us of our souls. How can the one 
exist without the other ? 

There is no force without matter, and 
the soul would soon waste away were it 
not for the constant supply of matter 
through the organism of nutrition. Those 
who suffer from anaemia, a morbid condition 
of the blood, are sometimes suddenly at- 
tacked with syncope, or swooning. The pa- 
tient loses consciousness and a deadly pal- 
lor overspreads the countenance. Physicians 
tell us this condition is but a slight re- 
move from death. Why has the soul so 
suddenly lost its power ? It is because the 
equilibrium between waste and supply is 
imperfect ; because the supply of blood to 
the head is defective. 

We often hear of the power of mind 
over matter, and in confirmation of this 



MATERIALISM. 8 1 

hypothesis instances are cited where people 
prostrated by sickness have, under the in- 
fluence of some powerful emotion, exhibited 
great mental and physical force. The smol- 
dering embers of a fire may be fanned into 
a flame with the bellows ; the force now 
given out is greater, but the fuel will much 
sooner be wasted. So, under sudden emo- 
tions, the breath is drawn more quickly 
and a greater quantity of oxygen inhaled, 
combustion takes place more rapidly, and 
the circulation of the blood is increased : 
we now have greater force, but the fuel is 
much sooner consumed, and unless the sup- 
ply can be increased, exhaustion and some- 
times death follow. 

The ordinary aim of education has been 
to subjugate the mind, and when the mind 
first emerges from this thralldom it is beset 
with many doubts and fears, hardly daring 
to trust its newly-developed power, like the 
young bird which lingers and flutters, ere 
it dare trust its trembling wings in flight. 
It is only after we have freed ourselves 
from religious slavery that we can enjoy 



82 



MATERIALISM. 



our existence to its fullest extent. We then 
have nothing to fear from a future ; our 
morals will no longer be regulated by the 
smiles and frowns of imaginary beings, but 
will rest upon a real and firm foundation. 
We shall be free to follow whatever code 
of morals brings most happiness to man. 



PRAYER. 



PRAYER. 



" What ! you do not believe in prayer ! " 
our religious friends exclaim in holy horror, 
and often in a spirit of ill-concealed preju- 
dice against all unbelievers. " How shall 
we escape punishment for our sins, if not 
through prayer? What better talisman can 
a child have against temptation and evil 
influence than a mother's prayer? In our 
extremity, when all else has failed, on whom 
shall we call for help and comfort, if not 
on God ? If no one believed in prayer, 
selfishness would reign supreme, and all the 
evil passions to which human nature is 
heir would be let loose, flooding the world 
with crime." 

All this appeals very strongly to our 
sympathies, but influence for good is as 
effective, and our earnest aspirations are of 



86 



PR A YER. 



as much avail, without a superstitious belief 
in prayer as with. Reason gives to morality 
a firm foundation, which will survive even 
though the head is no longer bowed in 
supplication to Deity ; morality will only 
rest the more securely on this true founda- 
tion when the world is prepared to dispense 
with the artificial props that superstition 
lends. 

There is no escape from punishment for sin, 
that is, from a natural punishment. Wrong 
acts must generate evil consequences, both 
externally and internally : internally they 
degrade us, and draw us down in the scale 
of humanity, as surely as right acts elevate 
and ennoble us. Externally they militate 
against the welfare and happiness of the 
race, and on the welfare and happiness of 
the race depends that of the individual. 
We should cultivate our conscience with the 
greatest care, we should attune it to the 
utmost delicacy of sensibility, so that it 
may take the alarm, and warn us, when 
we do not act in such a manner as to 
deserve happiness ; we should then become 



PRA VEX. 



8 7 



organically moral, instead of vacillating be- 
tween fear of hell and evil desires. 

A young man chooses his sphere of action ; 
to enter it he must leave home ; he strives 
and struggles onward, or he will be left 
behind in the race ; his strength seems 
strained to its last tension ; he has always 
been animated with a lively love for his 
parents, and the desire to prove a worthy 
son will inspire him to renew his efforts 
more effectually than if the parents should 
assail heaven night and day to send strength 
to their son. 

Death claims its victim, and snatches 
one dear to us ; one of whose sympathy 
and wise counsel we were always sure ; one 
the tones of whose voice has caused the 
blood to flow more rapidly through our 
veins, and whose companionship has made 
life happy. There is nothing left but the 
likeness molded in clay, and that will soon 
be laid in a coffin, and then in a narrow 
grave, and the Mother Earth pressed close 
around. In this our extremity we seek help 
to bear our grief ; prayer will not bring us 



88 



PR A YER. 



a supernatural comfort ; all the comfort we 
receive must come from Nature. To mourn 
is natural, and as long as human beings 
possess that noblest of all feelings — love — the 
void that the loss of a loved one causes 
will be felt. Whether we exclaim, "Thy 
will be done," or whether we let reason 
assert its sway, and say death is inevitable 
and we must be consoled, both exclamations 
are actuated by our knowledge of the im- 
mutability of the decrees of Nature. Had 
we the power to snatch our loved ones 
from death, we should not exclaim, " Thy 
will be done." 

Lawless characters are often frightened 
into a temporary reform ; they have no real 
desire to live good, moral lives ; they would 
much prefer a life of lawlessness ; but they 
wish to escape hell, and they use prayer 
as a means to attain their object. If these 
same characters, through reason, were made 
to appreciate morality, and were inspired 
with an earnest desire to ennoble them- 
selves, they could be brought to a much 
higher standard of virtue and 'justice. 



PR A YER. 



Sg 



In a real, genuine prayer, we call to 
our assistance God, expecting him to do 
for us what no other power can ; but what 
avails it : the simultaneous prayers of the 
whole world would not be answered with a 
miracle. For liberty we have fought our 
own battles, and spilled our own blood ; 
sin has made man weep, and his own flesh 
has felt the pain, gradually teaching him 
to avoid sin. The wife on bended knees 
implores God to protect her soldier-husband, 
but even while she prays the bullet speeds 
on its way and passes through her loved 
one's brain. 

Though petitions to Deity bring about 
no objective effect, yet their subjective in- 
fluence cannot be denied ; but the simple 
aspirations of the heart bring about the 
same results, and, it would seem to us, in 
a better way. If one invokes the aid of 
God to make himself better, and sincerely 
wishes it — which is not always the case, 
for prayers are sometimes unmeaning cere- 
monies — he has certainly gained much. On 
the other hand, he who earnestly desires 



go 



PR A YER. 



to become better, and yet expects no super- 
natural aid, must feel that it is not suf- 
ficient to know and desire what is eood, 
but that he must practice it without delay ; 
and that if he does not, there is no God 
to bear the responsibility for him. 

Many cling to prayer who do not ex- 
pect any other than natural results ; they 
use it in order to give vent to the long- 
ings of the heart, the play of the feelings, 
and to inspire with goodness. We dare not 
scoff at this, for we are morally bound to 
respect the feelings of every human being, 
and to sympathize with their struggles and 
heart-throbbings, and in return we have a 
right to demand the same. The good that 
is effected by prayer we attain through 
other means, and at the same time from 
such sources as will not prevent us from 
being honest to ourselves, and toward others. 
The means are everything that is good, 
pure, and true, and their use is regulated 
by circumstances and personal disposition. 
In music we give vent to the longings of 
the heart, in poetry to the play of the feel- 



PR A YER. 



91 



ings : reason and the practice of virtue teach 
and inspire goodness. 

If we would every day renew our de- 
termination to be more philanthropic, and 
earnestly desire to create in our hearts a 
greater love toward mankind, this would be 
a divine aspiration, whether felt by Mo- 
hammedan or Christian, and offered up in 
the form of a prayer, or whether honestly 
felt by an Infidel, and not offered up to 
any of the gods. 



DISADVANTAGES OF DEBATING 
WITH RELIGIONISTS. 



DISADVANTAGES OF DEBATING 
WITH RELIGIONISTS. 

LIBERAL thinkers labor under many dis- 
advantages in carrying on a religious argu- 
ment with their orthodox friends. Sectarians 
claim that we are blinded by the devil ; they 
would have some difficulty in proving this asser- 
tion, though it would be a very easy matter 
to prove that they are blinded by prejudice. 
As soon as an individual declares himself a 
skeptic, religionists look upon him as one 
who is under the influence of an evil spirit, 
and as one who advocates immorality. Their 
minds are so biased that they cannot under- 
stand that being moral and being religious 
are widely different things : one may be re- 
ligious even to fanaticism, and not possess 
superior goodness ; and one who is not at 
all religious may possess the greatest excel- 



g6 DISADVANTAGES OF DEBATING 

lence. As in Europe true nobility was sup- 
posed to exist only among the titled class, 
so religionists will not give us credit for 
goodness unless we have a diploma from the 
minister. 

We are constantly confronted with the 
two great mysteries — life and death ; the 
first we are apt to accept as a gift, without 
many speculations as to the cause. Some 
feel happy in possessing life, whereas the 
majority have not the disposition to feel 
how sweet life is, but both classes prize and 
cling to it, and the more tenacious of it 
the more dread of annihilation. It is this 
dread of annihilation that makes men cling 
to religion as a drowning man would cling to 
a straw. It is so pleasant to them to believe 
that if they have faith they shall not die, 
they shall not even lose their identity, but 
that there is a brilliant future in store for 
them in the New Jerusalem ; which has been 
so minutely described that they expect to find 
a luxurious home, a city of pure gold, with 
walls of jasper garnished with all manner 
of precious stones. "And there shall be no 



WITH RELIGIONISTS. 



97 



more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither 
shall there be any more pain." 

Religionists begin the argument with a 
preconcived prejudice, looking upon all un- 
believers as advocates of immorality. As 
the debate progresses, if we bring forth ar- 
guments calculated to destroy their faith, 
we are their worst enemies. They love their 
hallucination, and can hardly help hating 
those who would take it from them. Even 
after having well sustained our side of the 
question, and having proved that there are 
many things in religion contrary to reason, 
they will not acknowledge the defeat, but 
slink out of it by telling us that we are 
blinded by the devil. The greatest meta- 
physical efforts, the finest reasoning is an- 
swered in this manner. 

As soon as we declare ourselves skeptics, 
we are looked upon as advocates of im- 
morality ; the more powerful the arguments 
we bring forth, the greater influence the 
evil spirit is supposed to exert over us. 
Finally, we retire from the debate in dis- 
gust, feeling that our arguments have been 



98 DISADVANTAGES OF DEBATING. 

unfairly met ; that our reasoning has been 
looked upon as benighted blindness sent by 
the devil ; that we have considerably fallen 
in the estimation of our opponent, and that 
we have lost a friend > and prejudiced a mind 
against us. 



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